It's A Hard Knock Life For Male Babies

           

It is recognized in many articles and research studies that male babies are at warfare before and after they come out of the womb. This is no fault of theirs. In Shabecoff’s article, “Are Men the Weaker Sex?” she shares a variety of research they may possibly answer the question as to why these males are at war with the world as soon as they are conceived. A lot of the research in Shabecoff’s article is very similar, if not the same, as those presented in Lise Eliot’s book, Pink Brain, Blue Brain. In fact, one of the key cited experiments that stuck out to me was that of Simon Baren-Cohen’s claim that testosterone levels may possibly correlate to an increased autism rate in males. Shabecoff cited this article, stating that this was possible truth, and that this should be made wary to others. Yet, in Eliot’s book, she actually feels this research regarding the “extreme male brain” is entirely false, for this research was not accurately completed. Simon Baren-Cohen does make an attempt to test prenatal testosterone in order to determine whether this is truly the cause of autism in males. What was found, however, is that the results lack any proof when the females and males are not analyzed separately. Of course males will by default have greater testosterone levels, which would also by default make it seem as though it is the cause of autism compared to the levels in females. What they did find was a correlation between fetal testosterone and autistic traits; however, those tested were not autistic. Otherwise, the tests within each sex did not find any causal inferences to truly identify the testosterone as a cause of autism.
           Both of these authors were correct about the main issue – the unfortunate vulnerability in males. Shabecoff ends her article asking the question as to why. Eliot has a few suggestions in her book. It appears as though two things are sure to do the trick. Regular born males are outright found to lack as much social awareness and empathy as females. A solution to this, according to Eliot, which I too, find accurate, is an increase in social communication between the parents/guardians and the male babies. This way, early on, this will not continue to be an issue, nor will it lag in development. The sooner it is taken care of, the sooner results will take place -- and the boys can finally catch up to the girls! Additionally, with autism, there are no proven correlations between the Simon-Baren Cohen studies as of yet, aside from the autistic traits. Those traits, (not entirely identified in the book), are from my understanding of autism, may possibly be associated with the lack of social awareness and empathy as well. Until a study is proven within the sexes, there is yet to be a known cause of the higher statistic in diagnosis of boys with autism. Sadly, yes, it is true that males are more susceptible to disorders and infections, but this does not mean it is impossible to survive and pull through these struggles. Proper care and ordinance will help. Unfortunately, living in a bubble until the male is a teenager would not help either. However, the parents of the child can absolutely help, especially as seen with the socioeconomic study on the matter. Perhaps a healthy environment will also allow for greater survival rates. Overall, all babies are susceptible to anything in and out of the womb. It is the caregivers that will truly enable and create a suitable, fit environment for these babies to fully develop and be our future leaders.

Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps -- And What We Can Do About It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.


Shabecoff, Alice, and Environmental Health News. "Are Men the Weaker Sex?" Scientific American Global RSS. Environmental Health Sciences, 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.